The friend of a Hillsborough victim tried to stop him from getting crushed on the terraces, the inquests into the 96 deaths heard.

Liverpool FC fan Colin Griffiths told the court, in Birchwood Park, Warrington, he had moved 18-year-old John McBrien, from Holywell, North Wales, to the front of a barrier during the crush in the central pens.

They and friends arrived outside the Leppings Lane entrance at about 2.30pm and entered through exit gate C after it was opened to eject a fan.

Mr Griffiths and John went towards the front of the stand and stood behind a crush barrier to the right of the goal.

In a statement made in 1989, Mr Griffiths said: “When we got into position on the terraces we started to feel surges and crushing.

“John, who was a good friend of mine, was being crushed and I put him in front of the barrier which we were against as I did not want him to get crushed.

“I was standing behind the barrier with my arms locked tight to stop me being crushed against it, but there was a tremendous surge and my arms gave way and I went towards the bar and to the left of it.

“My right hand side of my body hit the bar about a foot from the corner on the left-hand side of the bar.

“As my body hit the bar and with the surge of the crowd, the bar gave way.

“At that point, I was forced to the ground.

“When the surge started and the barrier went, John was pushed to the right.

Police officer David Barron had identified John as one of four casualties he moved from the terrace to the concourse at the rear of the tunnel.

Stuart Gray, a general manager of a district health authority who was at the match as a fan, told the court he had passed out during the crush and when he came to he was in the inner concourse, with John lying at his feet.

He told the court: “I was sitting up myself. I don’t know how I got there. When I came to, he was lying at my feet, on his back.”

He said he tried to clear John’s airway after noticing he had vomited and then gave mouth-to-mouth and heart massage.

He said: “He was clearly unconscious. He wasn’t breathing. I was aware of the fact that it was probably fighting a lost cause.

“But the point was that he was there and I was trying to do what I knew was the best thing I could do to see if I could get him breathing again.”

He added: “His lips had gone very blue, his eyes were fixed.

“I’d seen those signs before in my health service career, so I knew he was in a desperate state anyway.

“But I thought that if I got some air into his lungs and I could at least get his heart going again, there was at least a chance he may have survived.”

Mr Gray said he tried to resuscitate John for about five minutes but after there was no response he put him on his side and went to help others.